Although
we honor veterans every November, the looming prospect of a second Gulf
war makes this year especially meaningful for both our armed forces
and those who served in past wars. Not surprisingly, many of the veterans
I speak with in Texas urge caution in Iraq. Combat veterans understand
perhaps better than any of us that war should always be a last resort,
that young people should never be put in harm's way without very
serious deliberation.

It's
easy to talk about honoring veterans and their sacrifices on a national
holiday. Yet so often the rhetoric obscures the reality that the federal
government treats veterans badly. Congress wastes billions of dollars
funding so many unconstitutional programs, but it fails to provide adequately
for the men and women who carry out the most important constitutional
function: national defense.

If we
really hope to honor veterans, we must change the culture of the Veteran's
Administration, which is as bureaucratic and inefficient as any federal
agency. This dramatically affects the well-being of millions of former
servicemembers, who rely squarely on the VA for health care, retirement
living, and monthly payment of veteran's benefits. Legislation
and better funding can help, but as with all federal agencies, mismanagement
is the real problem. Veterans deserve dignified care, and we can't
provide that with a VA that is run like the Postal Service or the IRS.

While
we need to treat our retired veterans better, we also should understand
that we can best honor both our veterans and our current armed forces
by pursuing a coherent foreign policy. No veteran should ever have to
look back and ask himself "Why were we over there in the first
place?" Too often history demonstrates that wars are fought for
political and economic reasons, rather than legitimate national security
reasons.

Today's
American soldiers are the veterans of the future, and they should never
be sent to war without clear objectives that serve definite American
national security interests. They should never fight at the behest of
the United Nations or any other international agency. They should never
serve under a UN flag, nor answer to a UN commander. They deserve to
know that they fight for the American people
and the Constitution, and that the decision to send them into battle
was made by their own congress rather than by UN bureaucrats who don't
care about them. Only by using American troops judiciously and in service
of the Constitution can we avoid the kind of endless military entanglements
we witnessed in Korea and Vietnam. We honor our veterans by ensuring
that their service to the nation is never in vain.

Ron
Paul, M.D., represents the 14th Congressional District of Texas in the
United States House of Representatives.